Data files of unitary council areas and electoral wards

This page provides access to data files showing past council areas and wards for use in a geographical information system (GIS). Maps of each area in PDF files are available from the Maps section of this website. More information about these council areas and wards and their use is available in our Information Papers and in our Review Reports.

Data files of current council areas and wards are available in Ordnance Survey's Boundary-Line™ product. Boundary-Line™ is part of Ordnance Survey's OS Open Data™ products which are available free of charge.

The data files are ESRI® shapefiles, provided as a ZIP file. For more information on handling shapefiles and ZIP files, see the Technical section of our Frequently Asked Questions. The data files are provided under Terms of Use which can be downloaded as a PDF file .

Council area

1995-1999

1999-2007

2007-2017

From May 2017

Aberdeen City Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(0.1 MB)

Aberdeenshire Wards

(1.1 MB)

(0.5 MB)

(1.4 MB)

(1.2 MB)

Angus Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.4 MB)

(0.5 MB)

(0.4 MB)

Argyll and Bute Wards

(3.8 MB)

(1.6 MB)

(2.8 MB)

Unchanged

Clackmannanshire Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(0.2 MB)

Dumfries and GallowayWards

(1.2 MB)

(0.7 MB)

(1.7 MB)

(1.4 MB)

Dundee City Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

Unchanged

East Ayrshire Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.5 MB)

(0.2 MB)

East Dunbartonshire Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

East Lothian Wards

(0.2 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.3 MB)

(0.2 MB)

East Renfrewshire Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

Edinburgh, City of Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.3 MB)

(0.2 MB)

Eileanan an Iar, Na h- Wards

(3.7 MB)

(1.7 MB)

(2.8 MB)

Unchanged

Falkirk Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.4 MB)

(0.2 MB)

Fife Wards

(0.4 MB)

(0.3 MB)

(0.9 MB)

(0.6 MB)

Glasgow City Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.4 MB)

(0.2 MB)

Highland Wards

(5.3 MB)

(2.1 MB)

(4.6 MB)

(3.4 MB)

Inverclyde Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(0.2 MB)

Midlothian Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(0.1 MB)

Moray Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.5 MB)

(0.3 MB)

North Ayrshire Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(0.5 MB)

(0.3 MB)

North Lanarkshire Wards

(0.2 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.6 MB)

(0.3 MB)

Orkney Islands Wards

(1.7 MB)

(0.8 MB)

(1.4 MB)

Unchanged

Perth and Kinross Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(1.1 MB)

(0.7 MB)

Renfrewshire Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.3 MB)

(0.1 MB)

Scottish Borders Wards

(0.7 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(1.2 MB)

Unchanged

Shetland Islands Wards

(5.4 MB)

(1.0 MB)

(1.7 MB)

Unchanged

South Ayrshire Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.3 MB)

(0.3 MB)

South Lanarkshire Wards

(0.4 MB)

(0.2 MB)

(0.9 MB)

(0.4 MB)

Stirling Wards

(0.3 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.3 MB)

(0.3 MB)

West Dunbartonshire Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

West Lothian Wards

(0.1 MB)

(0.1 MB)

(0.3 MB)

Unchanged

The shape files above are the council areas and their electoral wards as defined on the formation of those council areas (1995-1999) and at the time of our Third Reviews (1999-2007). Changes to the external boundaries of some council areas took place in the period 1999-2007, and the shape file below details those areas of change.